Measuring and Evaluating Science—Technology Connections and Interactions

Abstract

Despite the generally acknowledged importance of science in many high-tech areas of major economic relevance, there are no science-related statistics to be found in high-profile international benchmarking reports such as the European Innovation Scoreboard. Why? This chapter aims to provide an answer by advancing our understanding of the possibilities of indicators quantifying linkages between science and technology. Central are the concepts of ‘innovation capability’ and ‘science/technology interface’, which are used to assemble a wide range of empirical studies and quantitative indictors to summarise their possibilities and limitations for producing comparative statistics. The review focuses on indicators dealing with flows of written (‘codified’) information, and indicators of inventiveness that capture the non-codifiable ‘tacit knowledge’ dimension. General conclusions will be drawn with a view towards further developments in the foreseeable future, suggesting new avenues for the design and implementation of patent-based and inventor-based statistics to describe and assess the complex and dynamic web of relationships between scientific research and technical development within the context of regional or national systems of innovation.